Athens Drive's defense stretches for the tackle.
Nov 15, 2008
DURHAM — Southern Durham rolled the dice and came away winners Friday night.
Tony Creecy caught a two-point conversion from Alan Lea late in the fourth quarter to give the third-seeded Spartans an 8-7 comeback victory over No. 14 Athens Drive in the first round of the 4-A playoffs.
After and 8-3 season, the PAC-6 co-champs have aspirations of being state champions. A loss to the 4-7 Jaguars would have brought Southern’s season crashing down.
“I’ll take the win no matter how ugly it was,” said a relieved Southern coach Adrian Jones.
As for the decision to pin their fate on one play, Jones said, “I didn’t want to go into overtime with those guys. They came out and really played hard. But I’m proud of [our] guys. They asked to go for two and we went for it.”
The Jaguars had been without five defensive players for much of the season and without their quarterback for five games. They had their full complement of players in this game and gave the Spartans all they could handle.
“Holding them to eight points is something else,” said Athens Drive coach Jeff Smouse. “I just wish we had nine. Southern Durham were very gracious after the game … saying 'Boy you guys really gave it to us.'
In a game played in terrible field conditions, it was the Spartans’ defense that helped Southern avoid a major upset. They kept the game within reach until the offense made plays down the stretch. Junior cornerback Derrick “Bean” Bernard had a sensational game, intercepting three passes and nearly snagging a fourth before landing just out of bounds.
After allowing the Jaguars to grab an early 7-0 lead, the Spartans held Athens Drive to less than 100 yards total offense for the remainder of the game.
“They weren’t worried at all,” Jones said. “That 90-yard drive or whatever it was, they said coach, don’t worry about it, we’re going to win the game.”
Southern caught a break on the opening kickoff when an errant kick landed near the sideline and stayed in play long enough for a Spartan player to dive on the ball and gain possession. The up man slid out of bounds as he gathered the ball to his chest and despite the objections of Jaguar coaches and players, the Spartans were awarded possession at the Athens Drive 36-yard line.
However, after running nine plays from scrimmage, the Spartans were turned back on fourth down when a Lea pass fell incomplete.
The Jaguars responded with a 10-play, 81-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown run up the middle by quarterback Ross Snotherly.
The teams traded possessions for the rest of the first quarter and well into the second until Jones demonstrated his willingness to take chances by calling a fake punt on fourth-and-fifteen from the Jaguars 48-yard line. However, Creecy gained just a yard as he was tackled trying to turn the corner at the line of scrimmage. At that point Athens Drive seemed to have all the momentum and Southern’s frustration was ready to boil over.
That’s when Bernard stepped in and got the ball right back for the Spartans by intercepting Snotherly for the first time. While Southern’s offense again could not capitalize, Bernard picked off Snotherly again late in the first half to keep the score 7-0 at the half.
The combination of a deteriorating playing surface and solid Southern defense kept the Jaguars from gaining a first down in the second half.
As effective as the Spartan defense was, the offense continued to struggle. Southern’s ground game was going nowhere and Athens Drive had two chances in the second half to tack on points. An interception and 33-yard return by defensive back Phillip Barren set the Jaguars up at the Spartan 20-yard line on the final play of the third quarter. But Southern pushed the Jaguars backwards over the next three plays and forced a turnover on downs when Snotherly’s pass on fourth and 16 fell incomplete.
Later, after a sub-par punt by the Spartans set the Jaguars up at Southern’s 45 –yard line, the Spartan defense forced a three-and-out to set up a big play by their special teams.
Jamal Bullock came through the line clean and blocked the Athens Drive punt. Aliquan Bullock scooped up the loose ball and returned it to the Jaguars 45. This time Lea and company starting moving in the right direction, fueled by two big pass completions, a 14-yarder to Tyrell Fogg and a 23-yarder to Creecy. Alonzo Hedgepath finished the drive with a four-yard carry and a one-yard touchdown run to set up the dramatic two-point try.
After discussion between Jones and his offensive unit, Southern decided to try for two. A false start penalty pushed the ball back to the 8-yard line but Southern still opted not to kick.
On a broken play, Lea scrambled left and spotted found Creecy open in the end zone near the left sideline. The throw was a bit high but Creecy managed to grab it and get his feet in bounds for what proved to be the decisive points.
“We’ve got a [play] called Crabtree”, Creecy said, referring to Texas Tech standout receiver Michael Crabtree. “He has a little out move and then runs a slant, and that’s what I tried to do. But they played the slant and it was a broken play so I just made something else happen.”
“We talked about it on the sideline,”said Jones. “Creecy said, coach put it in my hands. I said okay we’re gonna put it in your hands. And he came up and made a play.”
As happy as Jones was that his team is still playing, he seemed to know his team was fortunate come out on top.
“We didn’t expect them to come out and give us a contest like they did,” Jones said. “Like I told the kids, you can’t take [any] team lightly in the playoffs. And we kind of took them lightly. We’ve got to come back and work hard. And we’ve got to learn to play in these type of conditions. In the playoffs you’re going to get a lot of these type of conditions.”
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